Conservation Review 2015

CONTENTS 2 WELCOME I am sometimes asked in which ways we, as a Zoological Society, contribute to wildlife conservation, and how our field conservation projects link to the animals at Bristol Zoo Gardens and the Wild Place Project. To me, zoos fulfil three major conservation functions. The oldest one, dating back more than five decades, is cooperative conservation breeding of threatened species. Twenty years later, in the 1980s, zoos started to contribute directly to field conservation of species and their habitats, which has ever since constituted our second major conservation function. The third, and arguably most important conservation function of zoos, is engaging people with the natural world, teaching all levels of Society about the state of the world’s natural environments and promoting positive behaviour change towards more wildlife-friendly actions. Behaviour change and its evaluation have only recently become part of Bristol Zoological Society’s portfolio. We ran our first dedicated behaviour change campaign, on FSC-certified charcoal, in the summer of 2013. Our choice of which species to prioritise in our conservation work has always been linked closely to our major zoo exhibits. We collaborate closely with the relevant Taxonomic Advisory Groups of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), with breeding programme coordinators and studbook keepers as well as with the corresponding taxonomic and functional Specialist Groups of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission to determine the conservation needs of the species in our care. A number of our staff serve on these Specialist Groups and contribute directly to conservation prioritisation for entire taxonomic groups, which in turn helps us decide where to invest our funds. We aim to carry out our conservation interventions as part of international or national action plans mandated by the IUCN and/or the governments of the respective habitat countries. Examples are the IUCN Lemur Conservation Strategy 2013–2016 that the Society lead-authored, the South African government’s Biodiversity Management Plan for the African penguin that mandates the Society to carry out its ‘Chick Bolstering Project’, and the recent Amphibian Action Plan for the Sahamalaza Peninsula, northwest Madagascar. The evaluation of species conservation interventions is notoriously difficult, as effects often only show over the medium to long term and are not easily measurable. For example, determining increases in population size of a long-lived species, such as primates, is virtually impossible over a normal three-year grant cycle as changes in population size of such species may take decades to become noticeable. Our integrated, holistic and multi-layered approach to conservation further complicates evaluation. We are currently working with a number of colleagues from other BIAZA collections to develop a framework for determining the success of biodiversity conservation projects. Our own approach is to develop elaborate ‘Theories of Change’ for each of our projects, which in turn help us define Key Ecological Attributes that we can measure and report. In addition to outcomes and outputs, we measure our financial conservation input annually, using the methodology developed by the EAZA Conservation Committee. In 2015, 15.5% of the Society’s turnover (about £1.48m) was spent on conservation as per the EAZA definition. Field and zoo-based conservation does not constitute our total charitable expenditure, but is becoming a more and more significant part of it. In 2015, our conservation and science work has again encompassed many different projects in various parts of the world and here at home in the South-West of England, and I hope you will be enthused by this report on what we have been up to! Christoph Schwitzer Director of Conservation Bristol Zoological Society 3 NEWS New Library in the Institute of Conservation Science and Learning In early 2015, after 10 years of being Simon Garrett’s (Head of Learning) and Christoph Schwitzer’s (Director of Conservation) dream, the library has finally been created within the new Institute of Conservation Science and Learning’s Conservation Education Centre. This library collection is composed of books, periodicals and magazines contributed by members of staff from the Zoo over many years. The library is open to students, staff, volunteers and even the public on prior request. It is one of the few zoo libraries in the UK. This is an incredible place to study where you can find specific resources about animals and conservation. The library is only one-year- old, and will grow over the time. 7th Annual BZS Symposium – Human−Wildlife Interactions In February 2015, the 7th Annual BZS Symposium focused on human-wildlife interactions and was a sell out! Following a welcome by Bryan Carroll, 12 presentations were given under the theme ‘Saving Wildlife Together: conflict, co-existence and conservation’. These included talks from zoo staff, Neil Maddison (Conservation Field Programmes), Eddie Mole/ Emma Moore (Gardens Team) and Simon Garrett (Conservation Learning), in addition to external speakers. The presentations spanned a broad range of topics from the role of Anthropology in conservation and managing large carnivores in human- dominated environments, to exploring ways of engaging people at sites of conservation interest and through the media. External speakers included Dr Jo Setchell (Durham University), Dr Laurie Marker (Cheetah Conservation Fund), Professor Stephen Emmott (Computational Science, Microsoft) and Paul Williams (BBC NHU). The Symposium took place in the Pavilion but, for the first time, a drinks reception was held in the newly finished Conservation Education Centre. This enabled the discussions to continue and tours to take place of our new facilities. This was a great way to conclude an interesting and stimulating day with staff, external guests and students! 4 NEWS BZS Coordinates IUCN Workshops on Primate Red Listing IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group at the Neotropical primate red-listing workshop, Houston Zoo. January 2015 In 2015 Christoph Schwitzer and Alison Cotton from the conservation science team coordinated two workshops that updated the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Primate Species. Neotropical primates were assessed by the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Groups in a workshop in January at Houston Zoo, USA, while Asian taxa were assessed at Singapore Zoo in November. Publication of “Primates in Peril” The IUCN Red List is not only the most comprehensive repository of species’ conservation statuses in the world, it is also a hugely valuable and well utilised tool for assessing conservation priorities across the globe. 2015 also saw the publication of “Primates in Peril: the world’s 25 most endangered primates 2014-2016”, edited by Christoph Schwitzer and Alison Cotton et al., which highlighted the most threatened primates in Africa, Madagascar, Asia and the Neotropics. Dr Schwitzer, BZS’s Director of Conservation, is the Vice-Chairman of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group, responsible for primates in Madagascar, as well as being the Red List Authority Coordinator responsible for designation of all primates on the list. 5 NEWS IUCN Save Our Species (SOS) Fund for Lemurs Launched in 2015, this special fund is dedicated to the conservation of lemurs by providing funds to projects outlined in the Lemur Action Plan 2013- 2016. This plan identifies 30 priority sites for conservation action together with recommended actions for site specific work to save Madagascar's lemurs from extinction while addressing the needs of communities w ho als o depend on t he species' long-term survival. It was written by members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group and published in 2014. SOS Lemurs harnesses the aggregating potential of the SOS model: pooling funds from donors and disbursing them in the form of small to medium size grants to existing Madagascar-based conservation actors while applying world class project management to ensure every conservation dollar is used to its potential. BZS Madagascar Project was a recipient of the fund this year for our long-term project on the conservation of blue-eyed black lemurs (Eulemur flavifrons) in Sahamalaza. The Critically Endangered Blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons) New Stick Insects! In November BZS joined an international effort to save one of the world’s rarest insects. The Lord Howe Island stick insect is a Critically Endangered species, and 300 eggs were flown over from Melbourne Zoo to set up a new captive breeding program to prevent this species from becoming extinct. In a prelude to next year’s review, they began hatching successfully in January 2016! Lord Howe Island stick insect: hatching (left), nymph (centre) and adult (right). ©Rohan Cleave Melbourne Zoo 6 HIGHER EDUCATION Bristol Zoological Society delivered a number of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in 2015, in partnership with the University of Bristol, the University of the West of England, the University of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. Over 250 students were taught on site in 2015 by our conservation science, conservation learning and conservation medical staff. Undergraduate Degrees Foundation Degree in Zoological Management Partners: University of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College FdSc Zoological Management is a new course for 2015 that

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